Exploratorium a step closer to waterfront site
September 25th, 2009 Filed Under Development Updates, Financial District, North Beach/ Waterfront, Tenant Activity, Zoning & City Hall Issues
San Francisco Chronicle
By John Cote
September 24th, 2009
Picture Courtesy of Socketsite
The Exploratorium is a step closer to getting a new home now that the city’s Port Commission has approved a 66-year lease to move the interactive children’s science museum to the waterfront, making it just a short walk from the Ferry Building.
The lease deal for side-by-side Piers 15 and 17 marks a major milestone for the proposal to move the renowned museum from the Palace of Fine Arts to the Embarcadero, where it would be readily accessible to pedestrians and ferry, BART and Muni passengers.
“It’s such a great location,” said Jennifer Sobol, project manager for the port. “It will be so easy for schoolkids and families to get there.” [More...]
Krieg Keller Reilly Sloan & Roman Leases 14,500 SF
September 25th, 2009 Filed Under Financial District, Tenant Activity
The CoStar Group
By Lauren Greenwald
September 22nd, 2009
Krieg Keller Reilly Sloan & Roman LLP leased the entire 17th floor totaling 14,487 square feet at 555 Montgomery St. in San Francisco. The law firm will relocate from 114 Sansome St. next February.
Built in 1984, the 17-story, Class A office building measures 228,573 square feet and is owned by United Commercial Bank. Krieg Keller’s office deal was the 13th lease inked in the building since the fourth quarter of last year, according to Anton Qiu of TRI Commercial/CORFAC International, who handles leasing with Jean Ko. Terms of the lease were undisclosed. [More...]
Zynga nears Mission Bay HQ
September 18th, 2009 Filed Under Development Updates, Mission Bay, Tenant Activity
San Francisco Business Times
By J.K. Dineen and Patrick Hoge
September 18th, 2009
Online gaming network Zynga is close to finalizing a deal to move its corporate headquarters to 500 Terry Francois Blvd. in Mission Bay, taking 137,000 square feet in San Francisco’s largest leasing transaction of 2009.
Under the pending four-year lease, Zynga would move to the fourth, fifth and sixth floors of a $149 million structure that has sat vacant since completion in June 2008.
The company’s 370 full-time employees are now largely divided between two office complexes — one in an abandoned potato chip factory at 365 Vermont St. that CEO and co-founder Mark Pincus owns, and the other at 444 DeHaro St. Zynga, the largest online gaming network with 100 million monthly users, has been looking for a new space so that it can bring all of its employees under one roof. [More...]
555 Mission tower inches closer to 50 percent leased
September 13th, 2009 Filed Under Development Updates, Financial District, Tenant Activity
San Francisco Business Times
By J.K. Dineen and Blanca Torres
September 11, 2009
Tishman Speyer’s 555 Mission St. is nearly half full. Or half empty, depending on how you look at it.
The new 549,000-square-foot San Francisco office tower snagged three more tenants this summer, consummating deals with A.T. Kearney and RCM, and closing in on a lease with Silicon Valley Bank, according to brokerage sources. The trio of new deals represents about 70,000 square feet in new leases.
A.T. Kearney, the Chicago-based management consulting firm, leased 10,367 square feet on the 18th floor. It will move from 255 California St. in November. A.T. Kearney [More...]
Efforts to turn empty lots to a glass half full
September 4th, 2009 Filed Under Development Updates, Financial District, Midmarket/ City Hall, Zoning & City Hall Issues
San Francisco Chronicle
John King
September 3, 2009
Even as San Francisco’s development scene continues to languish, city officials and at least one private landowner are exploring how to fill empty sites in creative ways - including art installations and a working farm.
“If you leave a blank landscape, that’s an invitation to blight,” said Matt Jacobs of Turnberry Lansing, the owner of 45 Lansing St., a Rincon Hill lot that also fronts Harrison Street. “It’s better to do something that’s interesting and that the neighbors like.” [More...]
